About 2 million people in the USA alone are confined to wheelchairs that serve as their only means of mobility. As a result, their lives are full of endless obstacles such as stairs, rugged pavement and narrow passages. Furthermore, many disabled people lack the ability to remain in a standing position for long periods of time, and often have only limited upper-body movements. In order to prevent rapid health deterioration, expensive equipment such as standing frames and trainers must often be used in addition to ample physio/hydro-therapy.
Typically rehabilitation devices for quadriplegics confined to wheelchairs as well as available devices in rehabilitation institutions are used for training purposes only. Exoskeleton (ES) and RGO (Reciprocating Gait Orthosis)-based devices, require crutches or walking frames (walkers) in order to enable/restore up-right mobility to people with mobility impairment such as paraplegics. But a significant number of people with mobility impairment are not able to hold or support themselves by commercial crutches or walkers (e.g., quadriplegics).
A solution that enables daily independent activities that restore the dignity of disabled quadriplegics, dramatically ease their lives, extend their life expectancies and reduce medical and other related expenses is so far not available.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide one or a plurality of crutches, that enables disabled individuals, such as, but not limited to, quadriplegics, that are typically confined to wheelchairs, and cannot use regular crutches in walk-assistive devices, such as, but not limited to, exoskeletons or orthoses, due to, for example, the weakness of the disabled individual's hands and/or shoulders.